Nobilo buys land at Rarangi

By Dita De Boni

Nobilo Wines has topped off a record vintage year with the purchase of 100 hectares of prime vineyard land at Rarangi, north-west of Blenheim.

Group managing director Nick Nobilo said the "very good" price paid for the land was subject to a confidentiality agreement, but a spokesperson for Oyster Bay Wines said his company had purchased 85 hectares of undeveloped land in the same block of prime white grape-growing land last month that had been independently valued at $5.4 million.

Nobilo's agreement to purchase the virgin land from Rarangi Holdings Trust is conditional on irrigation water quality tests being satisfied.

Mr Nobilo said the area, which Nobilo had been "nosing round for years" would produce Sauvignon Blanc grapes which would be mostly used in the company's Nobilo and Selaks labels.

"Sauvignon Blanc is New Zealand's jewel in the crown for international marketing, and the Marlborough grapes are the best example of that variety in the world," Mr Nobilo told the Business Herald.

"That area is perfect because it's less likely than other parts of central Wairau to get frost damage, and it's also flat with very small pebbly stones, which Sauvignon Blanc grapes love."